Pure Land school. Advocates of the Pure Land teachings can
be identified quite early in Chinese Buddhist history, but Pure Land
Buddhism emerged as a major force in the T'ang Dynasty along with
Zen. While both arose partially as a reaction against the
metaphysical excesses of the philosophical schools, Zen focused on
awakening through monastic practice, while Pure Land focused on
attaining birth in the Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha through
practices that were accessible to lay people.

Pure Land Sutras. Three of the most prominent sutras of the
Pure Land schools of East Asian Buddhism are The Larger Sutra of
Eternal Life, The Amida Sutra (Smaller Sutra of Eternal Life), and
The Meditation Sutra. Like many other Mahayana Sutras such as the
Lotus, Flower Ornament, and Vimalakirti, these sutras were compiled
near the beginning of the Common Era. At the center of these sutras
is the story of the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, a former king who decides
to set out to seek enlightenment. In the process of doing so, he
establishes the Western Pure Land; when sentient beings accumulate
sufficient virtue, they are born there, and due to the ideal
conditions, immediately attain enlightenment. In later developments,
especially in Japan, the Pure Land becomes virtually synonymous with
ultimate reality, emptiness, nirvana.

Practitioners aspiring to birth in the Pure Land visualize the
jewelled paradise of the Buddha Amitabha, where the evil karma of his
or her past is transformed into the Pure Land and the virtue of its
Buddha. Ultimately, even the Pure Land is transcended, and the
practitioner attains awareness of the non-origination of things, a
virtual synonym of emptiness.

Amitabha Buddha. Bodhisattva Dharmakara eventually becomes
the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light. Amitabha is also
known as Amitayus, the Buddha of Eternal Life, hence the title of the
Larger Sutra. In China and Japan, these two names, sometimes
referring to distinct Buddhas in the Indian context, are referred to
singularly as A-mi-t'o in Chinese and Amida in Japanese. Furthermore,
although male in the Indian context, Amitabha becomes increasingly
referred to in female, maternal terms in East Asia. The distinctive
characteristic of Amitabha is compassion.

The Name of Amida Buddha. In the Meditation Sutra, it is
stated that, for those who are unable to achieve the meditative
visualization of the Pure Land, the recitative invocation of
Amitabha's name is sufficient to attain birth. In China, and
especially Japan, this becomes the most widespread form of practice,
known as the nembutsu, in which the repetition of the name, Namu
Amida Butsu (I take refuge in Amida Buddha), is the very
manifestation of Amida. Philosophically, to take refuge in Amida
Buddha is to abandon ego-centered, attached thinking and to entrust
oneself to the infinite wisdom (light) and infinite compassion (life)
of Amida. Since the ultimate body, or dharmakaya, of Amida is
formless, one attains formless reality through the name.

Kannon. Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, is an
emanation of Amida. Originating as a male bodhisattva in India,
Avalokiteóvara, this bodhisattva became female in East Asia
and has been one of the most popular deities of devotion.

Honen (1133-1212). Exponent of Pure Land Buddhism. Honen
broke with the traditional views of other Buddhists who looked to a
variety of teachings and instead advocated the single-minded
recitation of the nembutsu, Namu Amida Butsu. Honen was known for his
broad and deep philosophical understanding, the purity of his
observance of the precepts, and his ability to cultivate various
states of meditation including visualizations.

Self-power and other-power. However, he abandoned ritual
observance of all of these practices at the age of forty-three and
turned his attention solely to the nembutsu. His conclusion was that,
no matter how skillful he may have appeared outwardly, inwardly it
was impossible to become free from thoughts of attachment, conceit,
and insecurity. The failure of this self-effort or self-power
(jiriki) opened up the realm of other-power (tariki), the formless
reality of the highest truth taking shape in the wisdom and
compassion of boundless light, Amida Buddha, embodied in the name.
The two ideas of self-power and other-power are complementary.
Without seeing the one, the other cannot be seen; they are like the
clouds and the sun that shines through them.

Foolish being. Honen states, "In the path of the Pure Land
one attains birth by returning to an ignorant fool."1 One
aspect of this indicates the foolishness of sentient beings, the
other aspect the wisdom of one who is aware of foolishness, a kind of
beginner's mind. Thus the same being who attains awareness of his or
her foolishness is also regarded as "equal to the buddhas."

Pure Land beyond form. The Pure Land no longer refers to a
jewelled paradise here; it refers to the realm of emptiness in which
all beings and phenomena are grasped in their suchness. When a
disciple asked Honen near the end of his life, "Master, what is the
importance of visualizations," Honen replied, "At first I, Honen,
also engaged in such frivolities, but no longer. Now I simply say the
nembutsu of entrusting." "Even if one is able to see the jewelled
trees [of the Pure Land], they could not be more beautiful
than the blossoms and fruit of plum and peach trees [found in
this world]."2

In a sense, the Pure Land can be understood to be the realm of
emptiness. Honen taught that the unfolding of Amida's compassion and
wisdom was felt in this life, but birth in the Pure Land in the next.
This parallels the relationship between nirvana and Parinirvana in
the life of Sakyamuni. As long as one has attachments, it can be
misleading and dangerous to say that emptiness is already present.
However, at the very end of is life, when a disciple asked Honen if
he would be born in the Pure Land, he replied, "Since I have always
been in the Pure Land, that will not happen."3

Shinran (1173-1262). Exponent of Pure Land Buddhism who
studied with Honen. His form of Pure Land Buddhism is often referred
to as Shin Buddhism, reflecting his expression, Jodo-shinshu, the
true teaching of the Pure Land. Like his teacher, he emphasizes the
awareness of the foolish being who, endeavoring to free him or
herself from the cycle of ignorance and attachment, sees more and
more clearly his or her own foolishness.

Shinjin. Like Honen, Shinran advocated the recitation of
the nembutsu. Whereas Honen emphasized simply repeating the name
constantly, Shinran emphasized the simultaneous awareness of
foolishness and the awareness of boundless compassion. The term for
this is shinjin, which is often rendered as true entrusting, a
letting go of all attachments which enables the natural unfolding of
compassion and wisdom. One who attains the wisdom of true entrusting
is regarded as the equal of buddhas. Since the heart of the nembutsu,
as is the case in all forms of practice which are thought to embody
highest truth, is beyond distinctions, Shinran states, "In the
nembutsu, no meaning is the true meaning."4 At the same
time, Shinran cautions, "If you talk about [this] too much,
then 'no meaning' will appear to have some kind of special
meaning."5

Naturalness. The foolish being is always contriving or
calculating to reach a goal dualistically, whether that goal is
material, such as worldly success or health, or is spiritual such as
enlightenment or birth. The one who becomes aware of this foolishness
and is receptive to the compassion of Amida is led beyond this
contrivance to a realm of spontaneous freedom. This spontaneity, in
contrast to the contrivance of the foolish being, is called jinen
honi, the suchness of spontaneity, or more simply, naturalness.

The Vow of Amida. Shinran understands Amida Buddha in terms
of two aspects of the dharmakaya, or dharma-body:
dharmakaya-as-emptiness and the dharmakaya-as-compassion. The
awareness of dharmakaya-as-compassion leads to the realization of
dharmakaya-as-emptiness. The process of being led to the life of
spontaneity through the dharmakaya-as-compassion is expressed as
entrusting oneself to the Vow of Amida, the vow to lead all sentient
beings to buddhahood by awakening them out of their foolishness.

Dogen, regarded as the founder of the Soto branch of Zen Buddhism
in Japan, went to China and received the transmission of the Chinese
master Ru-ch'ing. After returning to Japan he composed the
Shobogenzo, regarded by many as the greatest philosophical work in
Japanese Zen. He went on to establish Eiheiji, a mountain monastery
that has become the main training center of the Soto sect. Dogen
apparently transmitted the Dharma to women, since there is the record
of a little-known woman Zen master from the Kamakura Period named
Mugai Nyodo (See selection by Barbara Ruch in the Course Reader.)

Sitting-only (shikan taza). Although Dogen implemented a
variety of ritual forms, he placed his greatest emphasis on sitting
meditation. There are two aspects to his notion of sitting-only: 1)
He advocated sitting-only as a critique of the over-ritualization of
Buddhism during the Kamakura Period. He felt that the various rituals
had become a means to embellish and legitimize the life of the court
nobility rather than serve the goals of fulfilling the bodhisattva
vow and attaining awakening. 2) The "only" of "sitting-only"
signifies "not two" or nonduality and stands in contrast to dualistic
thinking which is based on some finite, limited, and objectified
goal. Sitting-only focusing one's attention on becoming one with the
present moment, the activity at hand, as a manifestation of the
all-embracing buddha-nature which transcends all dichotomies. In this
sense, the "only" of sitting-only is to be manifest whether walking,
standing, sitting, or lying, that is, at all times.

Dropping off body-mind (shinjin datsuraku). This is the
expression Dogen reports he used as a expression of his awakening in
his interview with Ju-ch'ing, his Chinese master. Dropping off
body-mind is the expression of practice which corresponds to no-self
and emptiness. When one is completely manifesting the activity of
awakening, then there is no objectified body or mind. As Dogen states
in the Genjokoan, the self is forgotten, and one becomes the activity
at hand as the activity of the cosmos.

Practice as awakening. For Dogen who began his quest with
the question, "If all beings are primordially awakened, what need is
there to seek awakening?" one expression of his response to this
problem was to see practice as awakening. This means 1) awakening is
inseparable from practice, 2) awakening is to be found in every
moment of practice, 3) the true nature of awakening can only be
grasped in the midst of practice, and 4) to practice is to manifest
awakening.

The samadhi of (awakening) unfolding of itself (jijuyu zammai).
When awakening is manifest in the midst of practice, awakening
unfolds spontaneously of itself, without any interference from the
dualistic, goal-oriented thinking of the self attached to ideas. The
self has no self and is open to the unfolding activity at hand/of
omnipresent awakening. Rather than trying to force things to fit
one's own idea of reality, things of this world authenticate one's
own awakening as one's receptivity dovetails with the unfolding
reality (See "Genjokoan.") This is also know as the King of samadhis
samadhi (zammai-o-zammai).

Beginner's mind (shoshin). This term, which occurs in
several Buddhist scriptures including the "Bendowa" chapter of
Dogen's Shobogenzo, refers to the beginner practitioner or
bodhisattva. Shunryu Suzuki, a Zen master in Dogen's Soto tradition,
interprets beginner's mind as the hallmark of the mature
practitioner, the true expert. To give my own interpretation, the
true expert is one who has studied extensively and can wield any
teaching as a skillful means but does so with the beginner's mind,
i.e., the mind of humility. The beginner's mind is the mind of
emptiness, highest truth, and is the basis of the true expert who can
move freely in the world of conventional truth.